Quran Garden

Session 507

Chapter 3

Verse 179

a continuation

God would not leave the believers in the state they are in till He has sifted the evil from the good; nor will God reveal the secrets of the Unknown.  But God chooses from His messengers whoever He will.  So believe in God and His messengers: if you believe and stay mindful, you will have a great reward.  (Chapter 3: Verse 179)

Let's study the phrase, "God will not reveal the secrets of the Unknown.  But God chooses from His messengers whoever He will." Allah selects a few from His messengers to inform them of some of His unseen matters, known in Arabic as Ghayb (الْغَيْب), so that they may increase in confidence that God will not forsake them.  

Here, you may ask, why doesn't God reveal the unseen to me?  We answer that it is of God's infinite mercy that He keeps most matters hidden from you.  If you were to know the unseen, your world would be filled with chaos.  Imagine, for a moment, if Allah were to reveal the unseen to you and tell you that your daughter would die in a horrible car accident twenty years from now.  How would you go on living?  Even if you have a thousand happy events in the next nineteen years, you will not enjoy a single one knowing the devastating end.  Such knowledge would ruin your entire life. 

Similarly, it is not fair for you to know the unseen while others do not.  Would you like people to know the ins and outs of your life?  Are you willing to let people into your head?  I would not.  Therefore, concealing your privacy from others and vice-versa is a great blessing.

But people, in general, are ignorant and often insist on wanting to know the unseen Ghayb (الْغَيْب).  Thus, we see the business of fortune tellers, psychics, and those who falsely claim to be close to God flourishing.  Here we say: The true skill of the knowledgeable is not to tell you what will happen but to push harm away from your life.  And since no one can stop God's decree, let the future unfold on its own and live in peace.  If you knew the future, you would relive its sadness and tragedies daily.  Thus, when the Almighty says, "God will not reveal the secrets of the Unknown," rest assured it is for your own good. 

God gave each of us strengths and skills to share with people, earn a living, and help advance humanity, but we also have our struggles and times of weakness.  If others knew your vulnerabilities, they would take advantage of you.  It is by God's grace that your secrets and liabilities are hidden.  

The phrase "But God chooses from His messengers whoever He will" means that Allah selects only some of His messengers to receive some knowledge of the unseen.  It is a form of support and reassurance.  Allah would not send and then abandon a messenger; they are connected to Him and entrusted to see the marvels of creation.  God says,

In this way, We showed Abraham the mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth, so that he might be one of the people of certainty.  (6:75)

The unseen, Ghayb (الْغَيْب), has different types: the relative unseen, which is absent from you but known to others.  And the absolute unseen, which is hidden from all.  Let's take them one by one.

The relative unseen is absent from your knowledge but may be known to others.  Suppose that your wallet was stolen, and you were unable to find the person who took it.  This knowledge is hidden from you or unseen.  Yet, it is known to the one who committed the theft and anyone who assisted with or witnessed the crime.  This type of the unseen is relative.  The relative unseen is what charlatans use to deceive naive people.  Some of these so-called psychics and sorcerers may have contacts with people or Jinn who tell them a story about a stolen item or a loved one. 

Another example of the relative unseen are the scientific discoveries humans make.  This knowledge was once unknown, but then God revealed it to us.  Can you say that scientists and explorers know the unseen?  No, because such secrets have clues, traces, and base data that can be explored and researched.  Allah guides those who put in the material work to some of His secrets of creation, whether they are believers or not.  This similar to a teacher who gives a geometry exercise for students to solve.  The student who considers the facts, connects the dots, and uses their base knowledge will reach the solution.     

The relative unseen is not the type of knowledge referred to in this verse.  The verse refers to the absolute unseen:  The sort of knowledge absent from all humans and cannot be reached by research and study.  There are no clues or data to analyze.  Absolute Ghaib is the unseen hidden from everyone and reserved for Allah's knowledge.  He says,

He alone is the Knower of the Unseen, and He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone Except to a Messenger whom He has chosen; and He dispatches a watchful guard before him and a watchful guard behind him.  (72:26, 27)

And in Ayat Al-Kursi,

He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills.

Allah allows us to comprehend some of His knowledge, but only by His permission.  Just as every person has a predetermined birth time, Allah set for each secret in the universe a set birth time.  When the time arrives, it reveals itself, usually to the scientists who have been searching and putting in the work.  However, if the birth time comes and no scientist is looking, God will still reveal it as a coincidence.  Someone may trip over a significant discovery by chance.  Many of humanity's major discoveries happened this way, such as medical X-rays, plastics, heart pacemakers, cooking with microwaves, and, perhaps most famously, the discovery of penicillin, one of the world's first antibiotics and a turning point in human history. 

Allah holds all the keys to His knowledge and may grant us knowledge now and then.  But He does not grant the master key to anyone.  He says:

He has the keys to the unseen: no one knows them but Him.  He knows all that is in the land and sea.  No leaf falls without His knowledge, nor is there a single grain in the darkness of the earth, or anything, fresh or withered, that is not written in a clear Record.  (6:59)

The verse continues, "So believe in God and His messengers." This is God addressing believers.  Here we ask: How can God call on the believers and then order them to believe?  We answer that Allah wants you to be steadfast in your faith and perform the duties of Islam daily to the best of your ability.  In essence, you should renew your faith through action.  The present was once the future, and it will become the past in an hour.  Your circumstances constantly change, so when Allah asks you to do something you are already doing, know that He wants you to remain unwavering regardless of the conditions. 

The verse ends with, "If you believe and stay mindful, you will have a great reward."  What a fantastic gift!  Allah guided us to the path of faith that brings good to those who follow it, yet He rewards us.  In reality, we owe the Lord for guiding us.  Those who properly follow Islam benefit during implementation, which is a great gift.  But Allah increases far above that, as He will grant you paradise.  He says,

He said, "Go down from it, all of you, as enemies to one another! But when guidance comes to you from Me, all those who follow My guidance will not go astray and will not be miserable." (20:123)